Father's Day

Father's Day was yesterday and it was a great day to celebrate the gifts of all the men in our lives. For my part, I preached on the passage from Ephesians 6:1-4.  This passage has Paul telling the reader about the relationship between father's and children.  Each party in the relationship is respect the other.  Yet, I want to focus on the instruction to the children.

Paul recalls the instructions of the Old Testament Ten Commandments to the people of Israel.  These are the initial instructions given to the people as they leave slavery in Egypt.  The first few are instructions about obeying God and keeping focus on God alone.  The sixth commandment is the first of all the commandments to hold a promise.  Now this seems strange to me as the first five are a focus on God and keeping the worship of God alone central.  So, why would the respect of our parents hold a promise to keep the land being offered by God?

To answer this, we need to look at ancient training and teaching.  IN the time of the Ten Commandments, there was no public education.  The only thing children learned was from their parents.  The parents passed on all the information of work and keeping a house.  If your father was a farmer, most boys would become a farmer.  All the women learned from their mothers how to care for children and take care of a house.  The children had to learn from the parents for a continued fruitful life.

The parents were not just in charge of the economic training, parents were also the primary educators of the faith.  IF the laws given by God through Moses were going to be passed down through each generation, the parents were going o have to teach the children all the instructions.  The faith of the people is dependent of the training of the parents.  I believe now we see why the only commandment to offer a promise is the obey your parents.

But I do not think this the only reason for the commandment.  Paul points that fathers are not to exasperate their children.  This is an instruction for the fact that we all need someone to rain us in the faith.  If we want to keep the faith of Christ moving into the next generations, the men of faith must pass on the faith and the practices to the next generation.  We are called to raise all in the faith no matter who a persons parents are in reality.

Third Monday in Lent: Lent 2014

Lenten Devotional

Mark 12-13

Sorry of for missing some days, but the weather, study leave and all good things of God's creation pulled me away from the computer.  I am learning a devotional like this is harder to put together day by day than I anticipated.  I covet your prayers as I pray for all who read.  In these chapters we have some more parables and teaching on the end times, but I feel that the center is held by Jesus' teaching on the greatest commandment.

Again, Jesus is being trapped by the religious elite of His time with the question of what is the greatest commandment.  Now, Jesus answers with the general teaching that all great rabbis and teachers have given, 

‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12: 29-30).

The first part of this response is from Deuteronomy 6:4-5.  This passage called the shema.  It is the central teaching of all the law as Jesus proclaims. All people we to memorize this text and it was part of the worship for Jewish people.  Jesus does not end with this proclamation.  He gives a second that is just as important.

Jesus proclaims it is just as important to love your neighbor as yourself.  Between these two commandants is the fullness of the law and the prophets.  This is the twist that is true in all of the Old Testament, but never seems to come out in the teaching by the elders.  If we demonstrate our love for others, we are demonstrating our love and devotion to God.  The opposite is true also.  In demonstrating our love of God, we demonstrate love of others.  

The religious leaders of Jesus time were getting caught in the law of making sure all the rules were followed to the neglect of other people.  THis is true many times today.  We want to make ourselves look great in the eyes of others even if it pushes other people away.  When we start looking at others as people in need of our compassion and deserving of God's love and forgiveness as much as us, the world turns upside down.  Jesus was very good at turning things upside down.  

We are left with the same challenge today as they were, love God and love your neighbor.  What are some ways we can demonstrate love to others in tangible meaningful ways?